Commentary Prepared by Dr. Julia Lenaghan, Ashmolean Museum

A 049
Head of a Woman (K) [Hippodameia?]; Olympia East Pediment

Marble (Parian)
Pedimental Figure
H 44.5 cm

From the east pediment of the Temple of Zeus. The head was found in 1880 built into a later structure behind the South-East Stoa.
Greece, Olympia, Olympia Museum
ca. 460 BC; Early Classical

Preservation:
Preservation: The head is broken through the neck. It consists of two joining fragments. The smaller fragment preserves the right part of the forehead with most of the right eye, and the hair above the forehead and on the frontal part of the right side; the remaining part of the head is represented in the larger fragment. The surface is much worn and scored except for the hair framing the right side of the face. The face itself is heavily abraded, nose and lips are almost completely gone. There are large chips along the break between the two fragments. The original surface on the back and much of the right side of the head has worn off completely, the coiffure in these sections is not preserved.

Description:
The head was originally turned slightly to the left. The face is wide and rounded with full features. The hair reached down to the nape of the neck; in front the long strands are running out in snail-curls framing the face in a carefully arranged pattern.

Discussion:
The head belongs to the statue of a standing woman (figure K) wearing a Doric chiton from the east pediment. Most of the body and fragments of both arms are preserved, allowing to reconstruct a statue ca. 2.60 m high. She can be identified as either Hippodameia or Sterope (the daughter and wife of king Oinomaos), but the youthful impression given by her more slender body compared to figure F make an identification as Hippodameia more likely.

Bibliography:
G. Treu, Die Bildwerke in Stein und Thon (= Olympia III) (Berlin 1895) 51-53; 104 figs. 68-71 pls. 10.2; 11.3 This is the thorough original publication providing details on findspot, preservation etc.
B. Ashmole and N. Yalouris, Olympia. The Sculptures of the Temple of Zeus (London 1967) 14; 172 pls. 16-17; 19; 21 A valuable and richly illustrated discussion including new fragments.